Nightmare
by Scarecrow77
Summary: In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, six Tree Friends go out to scavenge supplies.


**Hello again! Here's another story. I will say, if you can't handle horror or violence, don't read.**

 **Disclaimer: Happy Tree Friends is owned by Mondo Media. I only own my OC Scarecrow.**

 **XXXXX**

 _The nightmare is happening again,_ Lifty thought as he saw the military bear walking into his tent. He knew what the bear wanted, knew the supplies were running low. The bear walked over to his brother, Shifty, and started to wake the sleeping raccoon.

"Don't wake him," Lifty said. "He's exhausted. I'll go."

The bear nodded and walked out. Lifty heard the rain patter on the ground. Sighing, he got out of bed and pulled on his trench coat and boats. He looked at the sleeping form of his brother and mumbled a small prayer. Everyone in camp had taken a newfound interest in God when they had found it. It helped that the people who had shacked up there beforehand helped build the church in Happy Tree Town before the whole fucking mess started.

Lifty walked out of tent and met the pouring rain. His fur got soaked as he walked over to the veteran. Lifty noticed four other figures standing by the veteran's Jeep. He looked them over. The neon green squirrel with candy stuck to his fur looked nervous. The blue otter wearing a pirate's garb polished his hook, eyes darting to Lifty and the veteran. The purple deer wearing face paint pantomimed to the pale gray wolf with the snow-white tail. The wolf nodded and whispered to his friend.

"What's going on Flippy?" Lifty asked the veteran, dreading the answer.

"We need to get some supplies," Flippy said. "I went out last night and saw a gas station and pharmacy about three miles to our southwest. They look like nobody's touched them. I say we go and see if we can find anything there."

The deer started to pantomime.

"What's Mime saying Scarecrow?" the squirrel asked.

"The pharmacy should be our top priority," the wolf said. "We're running low on over the counter stuff. And we might be able to find some antibiotics for Sniffles."

"Agreed," Lifty said. He pointed to the otter. "Russell, go with Scarecrow and Mime. Nutty'll come with us."

The squirrel didn't complain. He was just happy to be of help. He didn't want to see anymore of his friends die in this never-ending nightmare.

Russell sighed. He looked at his friends and remembered how they met. When he found them putting on a mini carnival years ago and offered to help them with their rigging. Times weren't so simple anymore. They just got fucked over nowadays. Sometimes they couldn't catch a break. It was Murphy's Law in action.

Flippy looked at the other animals and said, "Let's get in the Jeep. See if we can try and get some supplies."

They all boarded Flippy's banged up Jeep, some happy to be out of the rain, some scared shitless on what they might face when they got to where they were going.

Flippy's thoughts turned to how they came upon their current resting place. After the incident, Flippy and a few others had made their way out of town, searching for a safe place to live. On the third night since their departure, they found the raccoon twins scavenging for food. Flippy remembered Cuddles almost shooting one of them, thinking they were the fucking critters. Flippy stopped him in the nick of time and sauntered over to the two. He told them their situation and asked if they knew of any shelter that happened to be around. The twins brought them to the fairground.

They met Nutty, Russell, Scarecrow, and Mime there. They all worked for a traveling carnival. Flippy remembered them coming into Happy Tree Town and helping Mime and Russell build a church in town.

Mime and Scarecrow were the defacto leaders of the carnival. They organized everything, all the acts. Mime was a mute, had been all his life. Scarecrow was the only one who understood pantomime and translated for his friend. Scarecrow explained that they had set up shop right before the incident. They had lived in isolation ever since. Flippy had asked if they could stay awhile. Mime had smiled and said that the carnival always helped lost souls looking for a friendly environment to live in. All the others had nodded.

Russell was the main person who set everything up and would be happy to set up some extra tents for Flippy and his crew of refugees. Lifty and Shifty would make sure that they had anything they needed. Nutty was the main chef and tried to prepare three meals a day. Scarecrow and Mime kept everyone in line. Scarecrow and Mime took Flippy aside and talked to the veteran. Scarecrow told them that they had lost a few people during the incident and had buried them a quarter of a mile away. Flippy noticed Mime's grave expression during the talk. When Scarecrow finished, the deer crossed himself and had Scarecrow tell the bear about putting their friend Toothy down. Toothy had come back to camp rabid. Scarecrow and Mime walked out to meet him. That's when Scarecrow shot Toothy in the head and everyone else in the carnival shared a prayer for their lost friend. Flippy had looked at the two and understood what they meant. They were quick to make friends, but they wouldn't hesitate to kill someone that had turned rabid.

"We don't like it. We fucking hate it," Scarecrow had said. "But we will try to ease their suffering Flippy. I know some people in your party won't like losing their friends, but it's the only thing we can do for now. I just hope God can forgive us."

Flippy had agreed, but neglected to tell his friends about what happened to Toothy. He knew it would only dampen everyone's spirits.

That had been three months ago. They had stayed there ever since and lost one person. Other than that unfortunate loss, that unfortunate misstep, that unfortunate mistake, they had been fine. Sniffles had locked himself in his tent, trying to figure out a cure for the critters. He was hell-bent on finding one, hell-bent on saving people. Flippy hoped the anteater would succeed.

"Yar, we're here Flippy."

Flippy looked outside. There stood the dilapidated pharmacy and gas station. "All right," he said. "Mime, Scarecrow, and Russell, take the pharmacy. Lifty and Nutty, we'll search the gas station. Everyone got a weapon?"

They all nodded. Scarecrow cocked his revolver and got out the door. Mime got out behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He motioned to the cross around his neck.

"Don't worry Mime. We won't forget, will we Russell?"

"Nay lad."

Mime nodded, hoping this fucking nightmare would end. The deer looked up at the nighttime sky. For some odd reason, darkness had permeated the sky ever since the incident. It felt like nighttime had won its centuries long battle with daytime. It spooked Mime. It reminded him of nightmares he had when he was younger.

They walked over to the pharmacy, noting broken windows and the familiar stench of decay seeping out into the night air. Mime shivered.

Scarecrow walked over to the door. The hinges hadn't been torn off. Aiming his revolver through the broken window, he twisted the doorknob and opened the door. Nothing came out. Scarecrow whistled a tune as the three walked in. Nothing. Zip. Nada.

"Critters would've come out by now," Scarecrow said.

Mime still felt uneasy. He remembered what happened to Flippy's friend Cuddles. A month ago, the yellow rabbit joined an expedition to a gas station to get some fuel. Inside the ruined building, the rabbit had heard a noise in the back. The rabbit went there, trying to be a hero. All he got was a slashed throat and a bullet in the head courtesy of Nutty. Nobody tried to be a hero since then. Heroes weren't allowed in this nightmare.

"I'll take the back o' the stor,'" Russell said. Scarecrow and Mime nodded.

"Be careful."

Scarecrow and Mime walked over to one of the broken windows and looked. Scarecrow started to whisper a small prayer for the poor souls they would no doubt find dead in the pharmacy. Mime walked over to the counter near the door. The dark maroon stain didn't help his mood. He tiptoed over to the other side. He looked at the tan bear lying in a pool of blood. Mime noticed the stab wounds littering the corpse, as if someone played darts with his body. His throat was slashed and his eyes looked up into the sky. It had a terrified scream stuck on its face, a suffering symbol to show how awful the man's death must have been. Mime noticed something else beside the bear. He saw a small cap with a mini propeller on top. He walked over to it.

And saw the bear's cub.

And almost vomited.

The poor cub had his skull crushed, and his brains had flowed out with the rest of his blood on the floor. The chunks of gray matter in the blood cruelly reminded Mime of alphabet soup his mother made him when he was young. Mime stepped back, face pale. He was scared. Scared to the brink of insanity. He didn't know why God had made this happen to them. Didn't know why the world had crumbled. Didn't know why the critters had to kill everyone they saw.

That's when he heard the growling behind him.

Mime woke up, panting. He looked around and noticed he sat in the resurrection ward of the hospital in town. Sniffles walked in.

"You're awake."

Mime started to pantomime. Sniffles looked at him.

"He wants to know how he died," Scarecrow asked waltzing in. "You got stabbed in the back by a piece of glass from an explosion."

Mime nodded. Sniffles sighed. "I'm going to check and see if the others have come back." Sniffles walked out and Scarecrow looked at his friend.

"You okay Mime? You look kinda pale."

Mime pantomimed he was fine, just tired.

"Right. I'm gonna a cup of coffee. Want the usual?"

Mime nodded. As he watched Scarecrow leave, he shivered. He didn't know what was worse, the actual process of dying, or the nightmares he always had before he came back.

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **And that's that. Did I scare any of you guys? Anyway, this was just another short little thing I had in my head for a few days. It started by getting an image of Mime being religious.**

 **This story seems like a** _ **Twilight Zone**_ **episode to me. I think it'd make a good episode.**

 **My next story will explain my OC Scarecrow. I'll see if I can post his origin story in a few weeks or so.**

 **Read and review please!**


End file.
